Life in Philly.

Hanging out with me team at orientation!

meet esther! she is on the houston team, but she's from philly! 

on a beautiful rooftop in Chicago

coffee shop and board games??? i think yess!!!! notice how happy josh is about it too! 

we met this wonderful lady during our city scavenger hunt! she made us bubble Tea!

The security guard was so concerned when we were pretending to hit the liberty bell!

A pyramid in fairmount park!!

Not really a good explanation for this one. it was also during our scavenger hunt and we we're at the 30th street station in the subway!! umm ya we got some weird looks! haha

RUNNING ON THE ROCKY STEPS!!!!! awesome...even though i left my gray workout suit at home!

Apparently this was one of the first drinking fountains!   and apparently we were pretty tired from running around the city all day long! but i still thought it was cool!

These are just a few pictures from the last few weeks!!! I did start work at LOGAN Hope school two weeks ago and I am the official art teacher for the school! I teach 6 classes ages  k-8th!! its gonna be a LOT of work but I am really excited!!! The kids are AMAZING!! i already have fallen in love with all of them!
As for the neighborhood, I am starting to get more familiar with it! I'm starting to get to know the people on my block and to make a few friends!! And I'm always surprised when someone remembers my name and calls out to me to say hi as I walk home from work! But i love it! Also I have decided that I am going to be friends with the people who run the corner store near my house!  I really do love philly and the people in it! it's becoming more and more my home! :)

Fundraiser at Preach316.com!

Hey Everyone!!!  So my friend George has an awesome webstie called Preach316.com that sells really cool shirts, bumber stickers, bracelets, and more! And for the month of October he is doing a fundraiser where 25% of the proceeds will go to supporting my year in Philadelphia! I am so thankful to him for being so generous! So not only will you get a really cool shirt out of the deal, but you will get a chance to support what God is doing in Philly!!! So check it out!!!!! :)

Preach 316.com!!!!!!

New Perspective.

"For who I am now...shame on my upbringing. For who I am in the future....shame on me."

So I made it to Philly!!! I arrived two weeks ago from today! However I have only been in Philadelphia a little over a week because we all flew to Chicago for orientation for 5 days! Orientation basically introduced us to our cities and talked a lot about living in community, working in our community, racial reconciliation, justice and more. It was really helpful to hear all the speakers and to meet all the other MissionYear teams from around the country!

The quote above was something one of the speakers said and it really resinated with me.  To me, it means that I can't help the way i was raised. I can't help the culture and the view of the world I already have. It isn't my fault that I have grown up oblivious to many things. However, it is my fault if I begin to see injustices in the world and racism in the world and choose not to change. In the future, I CAN help the way i will view the world and I CAN continue to grow and mold my perspective on life!

This is the way I plan to view this year in Philly. I want to learn from those around me who have a completely different life! I hope that every pre-conceived notion i have is torn down and replaced with a more open and clear perspective.

Now, i know all this sounds very idealistic, but i have been pondering this quote for the last two weeks and it has really made a difference on me. So i thought i would share it! :)

THis is me and my roommate, elizabeth, at the airport on our way to chicago! 

I was excited about my new bedroom haha

Our team at orientation! everyone except for the girl on the far left lives in my house with me! Ashley, Elizabeth, Josh, Me, David, and Dave! (left to right)
Hopefully I will have more pictures later!!!!